Captain's Theatre: ROUTE 66 "Lizard's Leg & Owlet's Wing"

Quick: Name the only time Karloff, Lorre, & Chaney appeared together on-screen...

...and they played themselves, not characters, though two of them appear in makeup as monsters they made famous...

It was the Halloween 1962 episode of the long-running tv series Route 66, entitled "Lizard's Leg & Owlet's Wing" written by noted scriptwriter Sterling Siliphant.

(The ep actually aired on October 26, 1962, but it was promoted as a "Halloween treat".)
It's played for laughs, but the veteran actors are treated with affection and respect.
(Obviously, the writer, crew, and cast were fans.)

There's a "50th Anniversary" article about it HERE.

And the uncut episode (with the original 1962 commercials) here...

Happy Halloween!

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Captain's Library & Theatre: GODZILLA VS MEGALON

The first Godzilla comic in America wasn't from Marvel Comics...

...and it wasn't a comic book, either!

It was a four-page magazine-sized brochure printed on newsprint and distributed free to theaters in 1975 to promote the upcoming movie Godzilla vs Megalon!

Oddly, a couple of creatures are misnamed.

Heroic giant robot Jet Jaguar is called RobotMan.

Alien monster Gigan (who had appeared in the earlier film Godzilla vs Gigan) is named Borodan.

And, since the brochure is both an unusual size and extremely-fragile, few survive today.

To console the vast majority of you who will never possess this rarest of Godzilla comics, here's a few video goodies...

The original Japanese trailer

The American trailer

And, koolest of all, a condensed version of the now-forbidden MST3K episode spoofing the film!
Don't tell Toho!

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Captain's Theatre: CREEPSHOW "Making of CreepShow"

Though both the DVD and BluRay of CreepShow had no extras besides the trailer for the flick, there is a kool 90-minute "Making of..." feature, which you can see right here...

It's from the British 2-disk DVD version of CreepShow!

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Captain's Library: CREEPSHOW "They're Creeping Up on You"

The final segment of the graphic novel adapting the movie inspired by horror comics...

...will have you crawling the walls with terror!

Sadly, the snarky host was omitted from the movie itself.

This tawdry tome was written 30 years ago by legendary writer Stephen King (adapting his own screenplay) and illustrated by equally-legendary comic book artist Berni Wrightson!

The VHS and DVD of the flick are out of print, and the BluRay is a major disappointment in that it's literally not really an upgrade.
Plus, neither the DVD nor BluRay had any additional goodies except a trailer.
But we're gonna correct that little oversight...

Tomorrow:

"The Making of CreepShow!"

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Captain's Library: CREEPSHOW "The Crate" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Protagonists...

A college custodian finds a wooden storage crate, with markings from an old Polar research expedition, hidden under some basement stairs.

He notifies a professor, Dexter Stanley, about it.

The two open the crate.

Inside is a creature resembling a Yeti, which devours the janitor, leaving behind only his boot, then returns to the box. 

Escaping, Prof Stanley runs into a graduate student, Charlie Gereson who is skeptical about the panicked teacher's tale.

They find that the crate has been moved back under the stairs and Gereson is killed by the creature as he examines the box.

Stanley then flees to the home of his friend, hen-pecked professor Henry Northrup, who has been fantasizing about eliminating his shrewish wife, Wilma, aka "Billie"...

This graphic novel adaptation of the movie inspired by horror comics of the 1950s was written by legendary writer Stephen King (adapting his own screenplay) and illustrated by equally-legendary comic book artist Berni Wrightson!
This segment is one of two based on previously-published short stories by King.
The original tale was also called "The Crate" and appeared in Gallery Magazine.
It has since been reprinted in several anthologies, but you can read it online HERE.

Note: the movie had the story "Something to Tide You Over" as the next tale after "Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", but the graphic novel places "The Crate" directly after "Lonesome Death...", followed by "Something...".

Tomorrow, the finale:

"They're Creeping Up on You!"

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Captain's Library: CREEPSHOW "The Crate" Part 1

It's the graphic novel adaptation of the movie inspired by horror comics of the 1950s...

...written by legendary writer Stephen King (adapting his own screenplay) and illustrated by equally-legendary comic book artist Berni Wrightson!

You think you're sorry now, Dexter?

You ain't seen nothing...yet...

This segment is one of two based on previously-published short stories by King.
The original tale was also called "The Crate" and appeared in Gallery Magazine.
It has since been reprinted in several anthologies, but you can read it online HERE.

Note: the movie had the story "Something to Tide You Over" as the next tale after "Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", but the graphic novel places "The Crate" directly after "Lonesome Death...", followed by "Something...".
It's your choice to read "Something..." (which was my personal favorite segment) before or after this tale.

Tomorrow:

The Conclusion of The Crate!

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Captain's Library: CREEPSHOW "Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill"

Let's continue our perusal of the first (and only) issue of CreepShow...

...the graphic novel based on the movie inspired by the horror comics of the 1950s!

In the film, Jordy is played by CreepShow scriptwriter Stephen King.

This segment is one of two based on previously-published short stories by King.
The original tale was called "Weeds" and appeared in Cavalier Magazine.
It has since been reprinted in several anthologies, but you can read it online HERE.
(NOTE: The link is to the "Weeds" page on the official Cavalier website, but this page DOES NOT have any NSFW material. Just don't click on any links from there...)

Tomorrow:

The Crate!

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